Skating Center beats initial I-405 expansion plans

Aug. 22, 2013

Updated 7:43 a.m.

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Current plans to expand the I-405 involved adding one extra lane in each direction. Some county board members want to add two lanes while others are considering toll lanes. SAM GANGWER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Traffic backs up on the northbound I-405 at the Seventh Street exit in Long Beach. The city is worried that the expanded freeway will bottleneck in Los Angeles County and cause drivers to flood onto surface streets in Long Beach. PAUL BERSEBACH, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Orange County Supervisor John Moorlach is pushing for the county to add two lanes to I-405 in each direction. JEBB HARRIS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Bob LaBriola stands between two shelves filled with various sized skates. LaBriola has been the owner of the Fountain Valley Skating Center since 1976. LaBriola hired a PR firm and gathered around 1,500 signatures petitioning to save the skating rink. He wore his red shirt to a meeting at the OCTA office in Orange where he acted as the spokesperson for the rink. ISAAC ARJONILLA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Bob LaBriola has been the owner of the Fountain Valley Skating Center since 1976. LaBriola hired a PR firm and gathered around 1,500 signatures petitioning to save the skating rink. He wore his red shirt to a meeting at the OCTA office in Orange where he acted as the spokesperson for the rink. ISAAC ARJONILLA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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The south-bound 405 freeway near the Warner avenue overpass in Fountain Valley. Adding an extra lane to the freeway for around 16 miles would cost about $1.3 billion with construction expected to begin in 2015. ISAAC ARJONILLA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Current plans to expand the I-405 involved adding one extra lane in each direction. Some county board members want to add two lanes while others are considering toll lanes.SAM GANGWER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Bob LaBriola's heart sank when he first saw the plans for the I-405 expansion project. A new, more elaborate on-ramp at Magnolia Street was going to squeeze out the Fountain Valley Skating Center. Boomer's, Days Inn and Sports Authority also were on the chopping block.

But LaBriola, who opened the Skating Center in 1976, was not going to give up without a fight.

“I never get too high or too low, but then I saw that map,” LaBriola said of the Orange County Transportation Authority's original construction plans. “I felt that we were a cog in this huge project, that we couldn't stop it. But then I thought, ‘Let's not sit back and do nothing.'”

After that initial meeting with OCTA, LaBriola and his two sons – both lawyers – started a grass-roots campaign to save the family business.

They hired an eminent domain lawyer. They called a public relations firm. They started a petition and collected 1,500 signatures from nearby residents.

“It made me realize that you can fight it,” LaBriola said. “If that doesn't work, there's nothing you can do about it. But at least you know you went down swinging.”

The Save the Skating Center campaign presented OCTA with the signatures along with 500 to 600 emails from supporters from around the country – and one from Italy. Those fighting the cause also got 20 to 30 residents to show up at a City Council meeting wearing “Save Fountain Valley Skate Center” T-shirts to show their support for the center, which received 150,000 visitors last year, LaBriola said.

The campaign ultimately paid off. OCTA decided to scrap its plans for a two-story or braided off-ramp at the Magnolia Street exit and use a less intrusive – and less expensive – design.

LaBriola said the OCTA board was “extremely cordial and pleasant” and lauded members for being “responsive to the wishes of the community.” He also acknowledged that the $70 million price tag for the fancy on- and off-ramps probably contributed to the community backlash to OCTA's original plans.

But he is confident that the community's fondness for the Skating Center was one of the main reasons for the grass-roots support.

LaBriola said being a for-profit company does not mean the Skating Center doesn't give back to the community. During an interview in his back office, he jumped up and opened a closet door, revealing a map of the Skating Center surrounded by 92 dots, each representing a different school that regularly holds fundraising events at the rink.

LaBriola also gives 60,000 free-skate vouchers to schoolchildren every summer. His only condition is that participants behave, as the skating center is a place for wholesome, family fun, he said.

“I like to say, ‘If my mother were alive and came in, she would be proud of how her little Bobby was running things,'” LaBriola said.

” he added, pointing to the door like an angry umpire, “out!”

5 QUESTIONS WITH COUNTY SUPERVISOR JOHN MOORLACH

Moorlach opposes the Orange County Transportation Authority's plan to expand I-405 by just one lane. He thinks it should be two lanes.

He also balks at the argument that the California Transportation Authority may decide unilaterally to convert the carpool lane into a toll lane, as the carpool lanes do not meet minimum federal speed standards. Toll lanes would defer construction costs and reduce traffic on those lanes, but Moorlach says he opposes the tolls because Orange County residents already have paid for the new lanes through the Measure M sales tax.

Q. Why do you want to expand the 405 I-405 with two lanes instead of one?

A. All it would cost to build that second lane is $100 million – one lane for $1.3 billion or you get two lanes for $1.4 billion. My argument is, find the money and get it all done at once so that you don't bother the motorists for decades with construction.

Q. Why do you oppose the toll lane alternative?

A. The idea of putting toll lanes in is offensive. The road was technically supposed to be taken care of through Measure M. The affected cities also feel that it would be difficult for toll payers to get out of the toll lanes to get to their cities. It was a scheme by somebody in a back room … a cash cow for the OCTA.

Q. If the more-expensive two-lane option is ultimately adopted, will that put a strain on Measure M funds?

A. Perhaps. But we've already built in the savings. In Fountain Valley, they wanted to do braided off-ramps that were going to impact the Skating Center, but we took that off the list and that saved us $75 million or some large amount. We're going to have to find that $100 million someday anyway. The money's there, and I don't think it's an enormous imposition on the cash flow of OCTA.

Q. So OCTA stands to benefit the most from the toll lanes?

A. It would be a revenue source so they won't have to go out again and do a Measure M-3. Asking voters to pass a tax measure with a two-thirds vote is not an easy deal. So if you can put in this (perpetual) parking meter machine that spins off money and pays off its debt, that's going to make it easier for OCTA to have a permanent funding source.

Q.How concerned should we be about the state going ahead with a toll lane option?

A. The argument is that the state might make it a carpool lane, and so we better do it before they do so that we get the toll and the state doesn't. Residents shouldn't be real concerned, but it is a possibility. The freeways are actually owned and maintained by Caltrans. We've just partnered with them using our tax money to make improvements. But it's as if those improvements can now be commandeered unilaterally by the state and recategorized, and that's frustrating.

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